


Snowed In

by astradanvers



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, One Night Stand, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Prompt, general mom - Freeform, snowstorm, stuck in a storm, trapped together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 15:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8018896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astradanvers/pseuds/astradanvers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have a one night stand, that's all its supposed to be. A snowstorm changes their plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowed In

**Author's Note:**

> shadhavar1126 is solely to blame for this fic. She gave me the prompt, minus a pairing and my brain did the rest.

Eliza tells her daughters it's a bioengineering convention in Metropolis, they believe her because Alex had been invited to speak as well. She doesn't tell them that she turned the convention down just as her daughter had. She doesn't tell them that she just needs to get away for a while, from Midvale and the lab and everything that reminds her so much of Jeremiah. It's been four years since his death, three since Alex left home and two since Kara moved away to school. She knows everyone thinks she should have moved on already but she just can't.

That's why she finds herself secreted away in some little nowhere cabin in the middle of the Rockies. It's early winter and the big snow storms haven't started yet but there's snow on the ground and she can spend her days sitting on the front porch watching animals run through it. The people who own the cabin had rented it to her for a lower rate and a promise to tidy up before she left. She's sitting in the window seat the first day when she decides she’ll head into the small town down in the valley that night, check out the little bar she saw passing through. She's always loved studying the behavior of people too far consumed by alcohol to be aware of their own actions.

* * *

 

Eliza leans back against the wall in the far corner of the little bar, it's more of a lounge really, but the town is small and it's the only one for a while. She's seen a few regulars the past three nights but hasn't approached anyone and no one has approached her.

“You are new to these parts,” a voice says suddenly from beside her and Eliza snaps around to stare at the woman there.

The first thought that takes hold of her mind is that the woman staring at her, long dark hair, a single white piece braided to frame her face, and crystal blue eyes, is absolutely gorgeous. Eliza is positive she's never seen someone more beautiful. “I'm just visiting,” Eliza says, turning her entire body towards the woman. “I'm renting a cabin up the mountain.”

The woman nods, “I wondered who was renting the Murphy place.”

Eliza smiles, “Just me, I felt a need to get away from the busy city life,” she says before she can stop herself, “live a little more.”

In that moment, or later Eliza couldn't tell you what made her react that way to the other woman, but with the first flirtations between them Eliza knew she wouldn’t be returning to her cabin on the mountain alone.

* * *

 

Eliza cracks one eye open, there's a solid form behind her and an arm draped over her waist, pinning her to the bed. If she had her way she'd slip out of bed and flee but she'd brought the woman, Astra, back to her cabin on the mountain. Honestly she'd expected the woman to have fled in the night. They'd agreed to just the one after all.

“I can hear you thinking,” the other woman grumbles in a sleep laden voice. “I intended to be gone before you woke but it would seem Mother Nature had other plans. We are sufficiently snowed in.”

Glancing towards the window in the small bedroom Eliza finds that Astra’s words are in fact correct. She sighs, gives up the pretense of not enjoying having someone to wake up to and shifts further into the other woman’s arms. “This doesn't mean this is more than what we agreed, only that it's extended.”

The woman behind her chuckles, “Of course, Eliza,” she murmurs, “sleep more now.”

This time Eliza chuckles but rests her head back on the arm stretched across her pillow, “More sleep,” she agrees, a small smile on her lips.

* * *

The next time Eliza wakes it's to the smell of pancakes and coffee and, she sniffs the air, bacon. Easing from the bed she pads quietly around the room, pulling an oversized shirt from one of the dresser drawers and drawing it over her head, before heading out of the room. Standing in the doorway of the bedroom and looking out over the open layout living room and kitchen she isn't sure what she expects to see. She's certain however that she doesn't expect to find Astra sitting at the kitchen table, plates of food spread out before her, a plate setting across from her clearly meant for Eliza, and a mug of hot coffee cradled in the dark haired woman’s hands.

“I made breakfast,” she says simply.

Eliza pads on bare feet across the chilled wooden floors, “You also have a penchant for stating obvious things, I've noticed.”

She's almost to her chair when Astra reaches out and snags her waist, pulling her into her lap, “I’ve been thinking about something while you were sleeping too.” She nudges the side of Eliza’s neck with her nose before pressing a kiss to the underside of her jaw, “We both seemed to enjoy last night,” she punctuates the statement by sucking lightly at Eliza’s neck and drawing a small noise from the other woman, “so why don't we extend that night to the duration of our being snowed in.” She trails open mouthed kisses along the edge of Eliza’s t-shirt, “Whatever happens, when the storm ends we part and go our separate ways without a backwards glance.”

Worrying her bottom lip, Eliza considers her response very carefully but she doesn't move from Astra’s lap. She looks at Astra for a moment, then away, “I don't usually,” she begins, “I don't usually do things like this,” she shakes her head, “I've been alone since my husband died.” She looks back to Astra, “Last night you reminded me what it is to have fun,” she smirks, “I could use some fun in my life.” She leans forward and captures Astra’s lips in a proper searing kiss, “Until this storm clears, I think you can be that fun.”

Astra smiles, hand sliding beneath the edge of Eliza’s t-shirt to rest high on the other woman’s thigh, “I look forward to it,” she murmurs before drawing Eliza into more kisses, their breakfast forgotten as Astra easily settles Eliza on the edge of the table.

* * *

It's weird, Eliza thinks that afternoon that they seem to have completely skipped the awkward phase. There hasn't been any of the sidestepping what they're doing, the feelings of shame over it or guilt for her part when it comes to lying to her daughters. All she feels in the moment is oddly content and happy. The feelings are foreign to her after so much time alone, so much time without someone there to hold her while she curls on the couch to read medical journals and the odd romance novel.

“This book is drivel,” Astra mutters even as she flips to a new page.

Eliza chuckles, head falling back to Astra’s shoulder, “So you've said several times since you picked it up.”

“You seemed quite taken with your article,” she says instead of a direct response, “is it much better than this?” She closes the book and holds it up so that Eliza can see it, it's one she's read already about a cowboy and a single mom with two toddler boys.

She smirks, “It is, in fact, much better than that.”

“What is it about?”

Eliza glances at the journal in her hands, it's from back in August and it's already outdated but she hadn't had a chance to read it before now either. “It's about the transmission of the Zika Virus by platelet transfusion.”

Astra tilts her head to the side, “Was that not written a few months back?”

“Yeah,” Eliza says, “but you try being a single mother, even with your daughters off on their own, a bioengineering researcher and find time to read.”

A chuckle from the woman behind her makes Eliza smile, “You have daughters?” Astra questions.

Eliza nods, “Two, they're away at school.” She doesn't mention where and neither of them have said where they're from, she doesn't expect that will change over the course of their entrapment but she won't lie about her girls either. “Do you have children?” she questions, deciding the question only fair.

“No,” Astra says, her voice quiet and tight. “I had a niece,” she says, “once but she died. It has been,” Eliza can feel the shake of her head, “it has been a long time.”

“I'm sorry,” Eliza says, turning so that she can wrap around Astra. “My daughter, my youngest,” she says, “she lost her family when she was young. We took her in. She's brought something to our lives we never could have found elsewhere.”

Reaching out Astra brushes a strand of hair from Eliza’s eyes, “She was very lucky to have found you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know these things,” Astra says simply. Eliza drops her head to Astra’s shoulder, one of the woman’s arms snaking around her waist as they both fall quiet and watch the once more drifting snow out the window.

* * *

 

Eliza steps out onto the  front porch the second morning to find Astra surrounded by one of Eliza’s sweatshirts and a thick blanket, “How are you not freezing?” Glancing over her shoulder Astra shrugs before returning to the sketchbook in her hands. Stepping up behind the swing Eliza looks down, smiling, “She’s beautiful.”

The smile on Astra’s lips is barely visible to the woman behind her, “She was my sister,” she says, “my twin, in fact.”

Unconsciously Eliza rests a hand on Astra’s shoulder, giving a slight squeeze, as she has a million times when looking at the landscapes of Krypton that Kara had allowed her to see. The portraits were reserved solely for Alex and Kara to view, to remember the people that were lost but the landscapes and buildings, those Kara allowed those closest to her to see them and fall in love with. And Eliza did, she loved the landscapes of Krypton she had seen, especially Argo City and the wonder it presented.

“I'm sorry you lost them,” Eliza tells Astra quietly.

Astra places the sketchbook aside, grasping the hand still on her shoulder and pulling Eliza around the end of the swing and down into her lap, “I thank you for that.”

Eliza nods, “Loss,” she says, “no matter how old, loss is hard.”

“You are correct,” Astra says, “and it is rare,” she traces Eliza’s cheek, “it is rare to find someone who understands that.”

“When you spend several years either waking to sooth nightmares for someone who has lost everything or waking from your own nightmares of loss you learn.” She leans forward then, pressing her lips to Astra’s, “I haven't had nightmares in a few days.”

“Nor have I,” Astra murmurs before bringing the other woman down so that their lips meet once more, pulling the blanket around them both even as she slides a hand beneath the hem of Eliza’s shirt.

* * *

“What made you sit down beside me in that bar?” Eliza asks, fingers drawing shapes across Astra’s skin.

“The same thing that made you invite me back here, I would imagine,” Astra says. She brushes her fingers lightly through Eliza’s hair, “You were alone and you seemed lost, as if you were looking for something there. I knew you would not find it, that even I was likely not it but I had hope. You seemed to be hiding from something.”

Eliza smiles, a sad smile, “The anniversary of the loss that haunts me,” she says.

“For me as well,” Astra returns. “Perhaps we were supposed to find one another and help each other to mourn.”

“Perhaps we were supposed to help each other to move on,” Eliza says, “at least if you believe in the idea of destiny.”

Astra shakes her head, “I never have before.”

Pushing herself up, Eliza twirls the white streak of Astra’s hair between her fingers, “Neither have I,” she says quietly, before leaning down to kiss the other woman.

* * *

 

Eliza wakes on the fourth day, she and Astra having spent the third as they had the two before reading and watching the snow and falling into bed over and over again. On the fourth day though something feels different. As Eliza rises from the bed and makes her way to the kitchen she's shocked to find Astra nowhere within the small cabin. The woman’s sketchbook is still on the table, a coffee mug still on the counter.

Stepping over to the table Eliza looks down, surprised by the sight of a picture of Kara and Alex as children atop it. She smiles as she lifts the picture but sets it aside to pull the sketchbook forward, its open.

_ Eliza, _

_ I do not know if you knew, I hope that you did not. If you did then more fool me. I need time to process. The snow has melted enough that you may leave if you wish. I will return before morning, or I believe I will. _

_ Astra _

Eliza can't be sure what the words mean, refuses to even speculate on them. She doesn't turn a page in the sketchbook and she doesn't pack her things. Instead she starts a fire, picks up her medical journals and her romance novel about the cowboy and the single mom with two toddler boys. She pretends she doesn't miss the strong body sitting behind her or the idle commentary on the drivel that is the romance novel. She says silent prayers to the Kryptonian God, Rao, and every other god she can think of that Astra returns well before morning.

* * *

 

Eliza is still sitting on the couch, watching the slowly rising sun through the window when Astra steps back into the cabin. “You stayed?” they both know it's a question, despite the intent for it to be a statement of fact.

“I needed to know what your note meant,” Eliza says with a slight shrug.

“The sun is rising.”

“Couldn't sleep.”

Astra nods, though it's clear they both know Eliza is lying. She approaches the table, lifting the picture up, looking at the two girls within, “Did you know when you met me or when you saw the picture of my sister?”

“Know what?” Eliza questions, she hasn't moved.

“Who I was?”

Eliza shakes her head, “You're Astra,” she says, “a woman I met in a bar while I was on vacation. We slept together, we're snowed into a cabin together. What else am I supposed to know?”

Astra studies the other woman, “You really don't know, do you?”

“Know what, Astra?” Eliza demands her patience wearing thin.

Instead of responding Astra lifts her sketchbook and holds it out to Eliza, “Look,” she says quietly, “I'll be back in a moment.”

While the other woman disappears into the bedroom Eliza opens the sketchbook. The first page is of the woman Astra was drawing a few days before, in this one there's a baby in her arms, a little girl. The second picture is a man, he's stoic and his face full of hard lines, the picture itself while just has detailed as the first seems to bear different feelings. The third is the one Eliza had seen Astra drawing a few days before. The fourth is Kara, Eliza’s Kara, she looks just like in the photo and Eliza thinks Astra had simply sketched it. The fifth is the one that makes Eliza gasp, it's one she would recognize anywhere.

“Argo City,” she murmurs, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“So the city you recognize.”

“This city from this view was always my daughter’s favorite landscape the draw. It's been my favorite since the first time I saw it.”

Astra takes the sketchbook from Eliza as she approaches, lowering herself to sit on the coffee table, “It's the view of the city from my office in the military guild. Kara loved to come there and watch me work.”

* * *

Eliza slips easily from the driver’s side of her car, shutting the door behind her as she goes. When she rounds the car she's unsurprised to find the person in the passenger seat still shut safely away inside. “We don't have to do this,” she says, leaning in the open window. “I can get back in the car, drive us back to my house on the beach and you can hide for another five to twenty years.”

The woman in the passenger seat turns to look at her, “I haven't been hiding.”

“Not the first five years, the past three weeks though hiding is exactly what you've been doing. I thought Kryptonians were supposed to be brave.”

“Eliza -”

“Yes, you did bad things, yes, you made mistakes. That was a long time ago,” Eliza brushes a strand of hair from Astra’s face, “and your niece, your wonderful, beautiful, sunshiney niece is going to care minutely about all of that compared to the fact that you are here. That she can hug you and love you and have a piece of home that Alex and I have tried but never been able to give her.”

Astra looks up at Eliza, then eases the car door open, slipping out to stand beside the other woman after rolling the window up. Before Eliza can move away Astra pulls her in close, “What did I do to deserve to find you?”

“We both loved a sunshine child and destiny saw fit to bring us together to mend our own losses.”

“I thought you didn't believe in destiny?”

Eliza smiles, looking up at Astra, “I thought you didn't either. But I distinctly remember you thanking Rao last night for having destiny bring us together and bring Kara back to you. For giving us new blessings,” she says even as Astra unconsciously runs a thumb over the curve of Eliza’s already detectable bump.

Astra leans down to kiss Eliza, “Destiny isn't really so hard to believe in when it brings me things I am far from deserving of.” She hugs Eliza close, “Thank you.”

“Thank the snowstorm,” Eliza says simply, turning away from the Kryptonian and pulling her along towards the apartment building before them.


End file.
